Today’s no-longer-ducklings post includes some night shots, some meals, some treats, adding another island to the pond, and mucking out the duck house. What’s your day like?

Spotted on the repositioned mobile cam, the new ducks finally got hungry enough to go find some food inside the duck house, which I’m leaving open overnight currently:

Some older ducks hanging out by the house:

A GIF of a duck getting startled (I think Betty, hard to tell in the night vision); perhaps a fish nibbled her toes:

Ducks by their house:

Breakfast:

Eating mealworms tossed from the pond deck:

Comfy groundcovers:

Lunch:

New ducks on the ramp:

This afternoon I moved a large spare ceramic pot to the pond, to serve as another island for the ducks (yes, it was rather heavy):

I waded into the pond, and positioned it so it was at around water level. Here’s the new one in the foreground, near three others. The new one should be big enough for two to four ducks, depending how cozy they get:

A GIF of ducks swimming, recorded while I was standing almost waist-deep in the pond (in my waders):

Then I mucked out the duck house. Here it is after removing the waterer:

Since I was adding fresh straw every day, it had built up quite a thick layer, about four inches:

After hauling several loads of dirty straw to the compost bins, I came back to find food strewn over the floor; it seems someone had been by for some food while I was away:

Looking at the cam now — yep:

Fresh straw:

Much better:

Today I have two GIF summaries, since the GIF works better with uniformly-sized pictures. So first a summary of all of the camera shots I captured (except the last one above):

And a second summary GIF of the photos from my iPhone:

The new ducks all survived their first night outside (as expected, they weren’t at all interested in going back inside the duck house when they had the whole pond environs to enjoy).

Here are all of the ducks — old and new — on the pond bank when I did my morning rounds. Still separated, but together:

Betty and the new ducks were happy to accept some leafy treats (the others got some too, but weren’t as excited):

Sassa:

A couple of Rouens:

Betty and the new ducks on the edge of the lawn by the pond:

Rooting in the grass:

At the duck house, I removed the kiddie pool, since they don’t need it anymore, and moved the food dish into the run area, as a step towards discontinuing it and just using the feeder tube inside the duck house:

The removed kiddie pool drying off:

I also moved the mobile camera (that was watching the run) to a better position to watch the pond and bank:

This afternoon, they were still sitting on the bank:

Sassa having a good stretch:

This is becoming a pattern: a summary GIF of all 42 of today’s pictures (actually, the first few are from last night, after yesterday’s post); again, some of these that weren’t included above may turn up in next week’s Flock Friday, so enjoy the sneak peek and bonus pics:

Today’s the big day: I removed a panel of the duckling run and opened the pop door, letting the ducklings into the pond. Which I consider their graduation to calling them just “ducks”.

I said yesterday that I wasn’t sure when I’d do that. One reason I decided to proceed was that one of the Rouens got out of the duck house last night. She pushed open the cupboard door from inside the nesting box, and hopped out:

(The cupboard doors are held shut with roller catches, so require a little force to open.)

Here you can see her outside the gate on the left, watched by others inside:

Here’s a picture of her when I went out there and discovered her outside; I opened the gate and encouraged her back in:

I felt that was a sign that they were antsy to explore more of their world, and since they’re old enough, decided it was time.

I started this morning the same as ever, with fresh straw and leafy treats:

Then I removed the run fence side by the pond, letting them into it; Betty came over to say hi, as she often does:

The new ducks on the edge of pond:

And entering the pond for the first time:

Sassa was the second one in:

Some pictures of the new ducks in the pond:

The two groups kept mostly separate, though interacted a bit:

Did you see the video?

Betty seemed concerned about Sassa; at one point I saw her nudge Sassa when she was having a little difficulty in getting onto the pond edge (something she got better at with practice):

Sassa still looks messy, but that should improve with more swimming. As expected, her gimpy leg wasn’t so much of a problem when in the water:

The new ducks spent a while hanging out in the shallow end by the waterfall (which is currently off):

And on the bank by the waterfall:

This is by the duck house:

Betty spent some time hanging out with the new ducks on the edge of the pond by the waterfall:

After a while, Sassa went back in the duck house for a rest and preening session:

A couple of hours later, looking much better:

Some new ducks and older ducks hanging out by the waterfall:

Here is a big GIF summary of 72 pictures from today (it might take a while to load); some of these will probably appear in next week’s Flock Friday:

We now have 13 ducks on our pond; Bert from the first batch, six from the second batch, and six more from the latest ones.

As before, I’ll probably continue the daily “More Ducklings” posts for a few days, then save up pictures for the next Flock Friday.